# superficies
## English
### Etymology

Borrowing from Latin superficiēs (“top, surface”), from super- (“above, over”) +‎ faciēs (“form, configuration, shape”). Doublet of surface.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌsuː.pəˈfɪʃ.i.iːz/
* (General American) IPA: /ˌsu.pɚˈfɪˌʃiz/, /ˌsu.pɚˈfɪʃ.iˌiz/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

superficies (plural superficies)
* (geometry) A two-dimensional magnitude that has length and breadth; especially such a surface that forms the boundary of a solid.
** The area of a two-dimensional surface.
** The visible, external surface of a body.
*** 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 72:The Superficies was compoſed of ſeveral bits of Wood, about the bigneſs of a Dye, but ſome larger than others.
* The surface (of something immaterial, especially of the mind or soul).
** 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Rural Life in England:An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting. … They present but the cold superficies of character—its rich and genial qualities have no time to be warmed into a flow.
* (law) A building intimately associated with the land on which it is built.

#### Related terms

* superficial
* superficiary

### References

* John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “superficies”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
* “superficies”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “superficies”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

## Asturian
### Noun

superficies
* plural of superficie

## French
### Noun

superficies f
* plural of superficie

## Interlingua
### Noun

superficies
* plural of superficie

## Latin
### Etymology

From super- (“above, over”) +‎ faciēs (“form, configuration, shape”), with the change in vowel likely influenced by -fex.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /su.perˈfi.ki.eːs/, [s̠ʊpɛrˈfɪkieːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /su.perˈfi.t͡ʃi.es/, [superˈfiːt͡ʃies]

### Noun

superficiēs f (genitive superficiēī); fifth declension
* the top, surface (upper side of a thing)
* (law) a building (as opposed to the land on which it is built)
* (geometry) a superficies
* This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

#### Inflection

Fifth-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* superficiālis
* superficiārius
* superficium

#### Descendants

* → English: superficies
* → French: surface, superficie (calque)
* → German: Oberfläche (calque) (likely)
* → Dutch: oppervlakte (calque) (likely)
* → Italian: superficie
* → Piedmontese: superfice

### References

* “superficies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “superficies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* superficies in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* superficies in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “superficies”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

## Spanish
### Noun

superficies f pl
* plural of superficie